Into the Abyss
by Switish
Summary: Nothing stays the same forever.Things change, people,places. But can the past change?Can Shepard escape his former life ?Work in progress. Rated T (may change) for language. ME2.


Authors note: Just a heads up people that this is the first piece of fanfic I have ever written, I want to apologize in advanced for any spelling, grammar or odd wording that may occur in this. Also in advanced just a warning that I have certain learning difficulties that impede on how well my sentence structure works…bla bla bla..you get the point. Also big thanks to Bioware for creating the world of Mass effect and a big thank you to you folks for taking the time to read my story. I've actually been wanting to write something for a while now but never had the courage to do it. I plan on continuing this for as long as I can. I'm not sure what sort of genre it will evolve into. So we shall see. This story will be taking place in ME2. Again thanks for reading. I do not own any of the characters or themes.

_Her bloodied hand cupped the side of his face, a thumb stroking the line of his upper cheek. He looks at her, his bright green eyes staring; they scream at her to hold on._

'_We can get through this….' He whispers. His eyes are burning, blurring as emotion overtook sense._

_She smiles weakly, moving her hand to the back of his neck; drawing him in closer to embrace him, she coos softly in his ear._

'_Shhhhh…It's alright honey…' She murmurs. Coughing abruptly, she wheezes, her injuries become apparent in the shallow breaths she takes. 'I don't have a lot of time left…I must be quick…..Listen'_

_He raises his head from the cradle of her shoulder, tears smearing the blood along his jawline and cheek. Whimpering sobs escape his shaking body._

'_Listen to me.' She looks at him sternly, holding his face in place with her hands again. 'I am so proud of you son. So proud. Whatever happens…Be strong. And remember. I will always love you.'_

_Breathing out slowly, she closes her eyes. She moves her hand down to his chest, resting there, feeling the beating of his heart. He places his charred hand over hers, squeezing it firmly, chocking back his tears. He held on for what seemed for an eternity as she passed on, silent screams came from his mouth as he kneeled over her body, begging for her to come back, not to leave him here all alone._

_He steeled himself, rising to his feet, peering at the flaming wreckage of his home. _

''_Be strong….''_

Jolting upright, he gasps for air, clasping his throat as he tries to calm himself. Soft light bore from the consoles, highlighting the sweat on his bare chest in the darkness of the cabin. Grunting, Shepard swivels around to the side of the bed, flinging the sheets off. He pressed his fingers to his temple, squeezed, closing his eyes and sighing.

'Curse these stupid nightmares' He mutters. Peering at the clock, he got up to put on his standard marine uniform, gelling his hair back into its usual spiked top and stretched out his tight muscles. He walked over to the bathroom, placing hands on either sides of the sink and looked at the mirror.

Time had not been kind to his complexion; scars and blemishes lined his face, a permanent reminder of the past. He traced the mark across the side of his right cheek, trailing its track from the far side of his ear to the edge of his firm chin. He sighed, looking down at the sink, waving a hand over the motion sensor for the water to run and splashed the cool liquid against his face. He stroked the heavy stubble noting the signs of insomnia and ran a razor across his jaw, making a typical goatee then walked out the cabin into the mess hall.

Private Draven and 1st Lt. Emerson were sat at the dining table, picking at their breakfast as they talked, '…so this one Asari had these beautiful delicate tattoos patterned onto her face and all the way down her back….' Emerson said as he shovelled a forkful of rationed bacon into his mouth.

'Mhm.' Draven sniffed bemused. She continued to prod the overcooked baked beans that were suddenly very interesting. As Emerson continued to talk senseless nonsense, Draven stared off into space, her temper becoming more agitated as his mouth opened and closed incoherently.

_Its 4am in the fucking morning…..I don't need this crap right now…_

She suddenly placed her fork down and gave Emerson an exasperated sigh as she rubbed her temple.

'Hector. Every time we sit down at this table, day in day out…all you talk about is what ass you been slapping recently, I'm a very patient person…but I do NOT want to hear about your sex life while eating.' She picked up her fork again, sifting through the cold contents of her meal.

Emerson opened his mouth to reply but was stopped as Shepard entered the hall, opened the fridge and rummaged through the many ration packs that lined the shelves. The two marines straightened as he approached, rising to pull off a quick salute.

'At ease you two. You know I don't give a damn about military etiquette at this time in the morning.' He placed a bowl of Weetabix, heavy with milk on the mess table and sat down next to Draven.

'Where the hell did you get Weetabix? I mean, uh, thank you sir.' Emerson coughed as he sat back down to his meal. Draven just laughed at the LTs stumbling. Shepard looked at Emerson and grinned.

'That's classified information, LT. Need to be a couple of ranks higher for that clearance.' He chuckled as he stabbed the soggy substance with a spoon, spilling liquid down his shirt as he lifted it to his mouth.

'Crap.'

The pair laughed at their Commanders frowning face as he furiously rubbed his chest, ridding the marked area on his uniform.

Private Draven piped up 'So Commander, we've been out here for a couple of weeks now looking for' She made quotation marks in the air ''Geth' resistance, with no luck so far. When are we going to see some action?'


End file.
